One-Time Marathon Offers Runners a Shot at Boston 2014

To the running community in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, the name Pat McCloskey is practically synonymous with the Boston Marathon.

The local race director has worked in the race’s Athletes' Village for more than a decade and has joined Boston Marathon race director Dave McGillivray multiple times for his annual run of the course.

So it was no surprise that, following the April 15 bombings, McCloskey’s voicemail filled with requests from runners asking if he could possibly, maybe, put on another marathon in time for them to qualify.

It wasn’t a matter of would he, but could he, says McCloskey, the director of Bucks County Marathon Series, a seven-race series known locally as the bucolic alternative to Philadelphia’s big-city bashes.

Once county officials gave the thumbs-up, the race was on. The Chasing the Unicorn Marathon will be held August 18 in Washington Crossing Historic Park, in Washington Crossing, Pennsylvania with one goal: “To help our friends qualify,” says McCloskey.

Some runners will race with an alternative objective in mind: to improve their qualifying time. The Boston Marathon uses a rolling registration process that allows faster runners to register first. Details for 2014 have not been released, but in 2013, runners who had beaten their qualifying time by 20 minutes registered first, followed by runners who had bettered their age and gender standard by 10 minutes. With so many runners wanting to participate in the 2014 race, clocking a faster-than-qualifying-time increases your chance of not being shut out.

The new marathon is designed for speed—to the extent possible for a race held in a typically hot and humid month.

The course is a double, out-and-back on a wide tow path (pictured above) that has barely a bump; 44 feet separate the route’s highest and lowest points. The 7:15 a.m. start and mostly shaded route will help cut the heat, particularly if the day delivers a scorcher. The field, which is capped at 300, will set off in 30-second waves to avoid a bottleneck and allow runners to hit pace by Mile 1.

The hardest decision was settling on a date, says McCloskey. September was an option, but he ultimately decided that, if it were him trying to qualify, he’d want a window of time to race again if he didn’t qualify.

“If runners don’t have the ideal day, they can hopefully find another race before Boston 2014 registration fills,” says McCloskey. Registration for the Boston Marathon will open in September; the date has yet to be announced.

“I want everyone to qualify,” says McCloskey, who ended up missing this year's Boston Marathon. “I still get chills about Boston. Years into it, it’s still as exciting to work it as run it, and it’ll be cool to help people get there. Putting on this race is my way of being a part of things, and the community's way of healing.”

The Chasing the Unicorn Marathon—the logo of the Boston Marathon is a unicorn—is scheduled as a one-time race, but McCloskey says runners have already asked about next year. He's thinking about it.

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